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Eve Morris
Eve Oti Nnena Morris '''(nee '''Okeola) (b. May 19, 1961) is a Georgeland politician serving as Chief Minister of West Mainland since 2019. She has been a member of the Legislature of West Mainland representing the seat of Weston North since the 2016 election. She is a member, and the state leader, of the Georgeland Alliance. Born in Huzzah, Morris' father was Nigerian and her mother was from Zimbabwe. At the time of her birth the African community in Huzzah was almost non-existent, and her parents were among the first African migrants to the region. She later lived in Doubledance where the community was more multicultural, and went to school there. Her father died in a car accident in 1972, leaving Morris to be raised by her mother and grandmother. After attending high school Morris attended the University of Santa Christina, from which she graduated in 1982. She was the first member of her family to attend university and one of only seventy black students at USC at the time. Morris graduated with a degree in business studies and law. While studying at university Morris became involved with the local Conservative Party, to which she was attracted due to her strong Christian upbringing and opposition (at that time) to the emerging gay rights movement. Upon leaving university, Morris worked as a business consultant, sales representative and vocational trainer until she began her own business, developing software for account management, in 1992. That same year she married Kamal Morris, a Sri Lankan/British citizen she met on a business trip to Colombo in 1986. Morris' parents opposed the match, and in order to marry her husband Morris broke from the Anglican Church she had been raised in, which caused her to re-examine many of her political ideals. Morris first ran for Conservative selection in 1988, when she attempted to be selected as a Senate candidate, finishing ninth out of sixteen. In 1991, Morris was chosen as the candidate for the federal seat of Santa Christina, a safe Labour seat at the time. Morris was easily defeated by Campbell Rhodes , who was seeking election for the first time. Following her marriage, Morris saw her politics shift more towards the centre. She spoke out against the Conservative call for immigration reform in the early 1990s, and in 1996 resigned from the party following leader Shawn Hedges' attack on multiculturalism. Morris continued her business career and raised her two children. She joined the Georgeland Party in 1998, but quit the following year when it merged with Rhodes' Labour faction into the Liberals. In 2005, Morris joined the fledgling Georgeland Alliance and became its state treasurer. She was elected as President of the West Mainland branch of the party in 2008, and unsuccessfuly contested a Senate position for the party in 2010. In 2011, Morris took a leave of absence and spent 18 months living in the United States where her husband was teaching at the University of Colorado. Morris again contested the Senate in 2013 for the Alliance, but was narrowly defeated. In 2016, she successfully won a seat in the West Mainland Legislature, representing the Weston area where her family resides. She became the state leader of the party in 2017 and negotiated a joint caucus with Reform, committing to govern in coalition if the party won the next state election. Under the terms of the coalition, members of both parties were given the opportunity to choose the coalition's overall leader prior to the election. Morris ran for that position, but lost to artist and activist Belinda Pang. Morris remained leader of the Alliance in the legislature. At the 2018 election, called two years early after the collapse of the Conservative government of Bob Richmond, the Alliance and Reform won a sizeable majority. Pang, however, failed to win election. Morris was commissioned as interim Chief Minister, making her the first black Georgelander to lead a state government, and the first black woman to lead any Georgeland government. Six weeks later, Pang was elected at a by-election and became Chief Minister. At the same time, Morris resigned as Alliance leader in Pang's favour. Pang accidentally drowned in her swimming pool six months after taking office. While Reform leader Tim Parker took temporary control of the state government, Morris announced, several days after Pang's funeral, that she would be a candidate to replace Pang as Chief Minister. Initially, fellow cabinet minister Libby Holt also announced her candidacy, but Holt withdrew and allowed Morris to be elected unopposed. Morris and her husband have two grown-up children and two grandchildren.